UPDATE: Alleged assault leads to gunshot wound, charges
UPDATE FROM AN EARLIER STORY: Accusations of infidelity may have triggered a marital fight that left a wife with a bleeding head wound and other injuries and a husband with a gunshot wound, authorities said.
James R. Powers, 45, was shot in the chest about 1:30 a.m. today during a violent altercation at the couple's modular home on Hungarian Road in Cherry Township, according to state police.
It would be more than nine hours later before police found him on Muddy Creek Drive in Brady Township.
A Butler Ambulance Service crew tended to him before he was taken to the Unionville Volunteer Fire Department in Center Township where a medical helicopter landed.
He was flown by STAT MedEvac to St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital in Youngstown, Ohio. The extent of his injuries was not immediately known.
But Trooper Robert Rottman, the investigating officer, said he expected Powers to recover from the injuries.
District Judge Wayne Seibel later issued police an arrest warrant for Powers on two felony counts of aggravated assault, two misdemeanor counts of simple assault, and misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment and terroristic threats.
“He remains in police custody at the hospital,” said Trooper Dan Kesten, public information officer.
Tammy Powers suffered cuts and bruises in the incident. The 41-year-old woman needed five surgical staples to close her head wound. She was treated at Butler Memorial Hospital and released.
Police began their investigation about 1:40 a.m. after they learned that Tammy Powers' mother had called 911 to report receiving a call via FaceTime from her daughter.
The caller told authorities that she heard her daughter screaming, “quit hitting me, I'm bleeding pretty good,” according to charging documents.
A voice believed to be the defendant's was heard saying, “you want me to kill you, I will kill you,” the documents said.
Within a couple minutes, patrol troopers got to the Powers' house. But neither spouse was there.
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